While Spain’s public debt continues to increase, now accounting for 99% of GDP (1,075 billion euros), private sector debt continues to fall, and stood at 131.2% of GDP in the third quarter of 2019, a level below 133% – the European procedure for macroeconomic imbalances – for the first time since 2003.
Banc Sabadell | America Movil would be open to explore options to buy Telefonica’s (TEF) assets in Latin America, according to statements from its CEO and CFO that have appeared in the press. It is worth mentioning that it was already leaked that Telefonica had hired several investment banks to try to accelerate the sale of its subsidiary HispAm to before June 2020. The idea would be to sell a…
Joan Tapia (Barcelona) | The PSOE-Podemos Coalition Government has not failed to confront its two main challenges: economic policy and Catalonia. However, now comes the most important issue: to approve the national budget for 2020 for which it needs a vote in favour of ERC. This time the abstention of ERC is not enough, as in the case of the investiture, which was achieved in exchange for the establishment of a dialogue between the governments of Madrid and Barcelona.
Merlin Properties’ CEO, Ismael Clemente, said it will take advantage of Portugal’s socimi regime when the country’s legislation is open to the incorporation of the so-called ‘community passport’ for companies from other European countries. Clemente was speaking at the III Iberian REIT Conference. Merlin has been in Portugal since 2015. Together with Spain, it is the firm’s strategic market.
Yesterday, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s published a report where it calculates that China’s coronavirus crisis will subtract one or two tenths off economic growth, both in the Eurozone and in the UK, in 2020. This is due to the impact on exports to China and on business investment. In Spain’s case, the figure may be excessive. This is because the impact on imports from China must also be taken into account and will work in Spain’s favour.
According to Spanish press (Periodista Digital, etc.) Beatriz Becerra, vice-chair of the European parliament’s human rights sub-committee and a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE Group), has published an open letter against the former Spanish President, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, of the Socialist Party (PSOE) after reading the message Zapatero sent privately to Juan Guaidó and other leaders of the Venezuelan opposition.
Bankia’s results were much better than market expectations, however, there are some uncertainties about its share price. The bank has achieved a profit of € 542 million, 23% less, with experts expecting a greater adjustment due to the bank’s efforts to get rid of unproductive assets.
Bankinter | According to INE (Spanish Statistical Office) 83.7 million foreign tourists visited Spain last year, an increase of 1.1% over 2018. Their spending also broke a record, rising 2.8% to €92.278 million. Among the main tourist destinations, the ones that did well were Madrid +7,0%, the Autonomous region of Valencia +3,9% and Andalusia +3,4% and the ones that didn’t were The Canary Islands -4,4% and the Balearic Islands -1,2%.